The invention concerns an electric switch for toys and comprising a stationary member and a member rotatable with respect to the stationary member, said stationary member having a plurality of electric connections which are broken and made by rotation of the rotatable member.
In toys and particularly in construction building sets various electric units are energized to provide various functions. Thus, there may be a need for making electric connections sequentially, e.g. for causing light sources to light periodically. In other cases it may be desirable that the user can switch between several different functions, e.g. to control points to which is to be applied reversing of the travelling direction of a toy train, or by activation of the dump body of a toy truck.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,752 discloses a contact or switch having a removable, protruding lever. A coupling is established between this lever and the rotatable shaft of the contact, permitting the lever to be assembled and removed without the switch being loaded critically. The switch can be moved between two extreme positions, but it is not explained how the electric connections of the contact are actually made.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,041 discloses a switch for mounting on a printed circuit board. Here it is often interesting to break and make several circuits at the same time. Such printed circuit boards are often encased in a housing or a box and are therefore not very accessible. With the technique described in the patent specification several switches can be coupled together axially by means of a through shaft. When a switch is operated, the shaft coupling brings along the other switches incorporated in the coupling. The contact is established by means of a rocking body in the form of a rocker spring by means of which a contact point can be connected with two alternative contact points.